No One Is Illegal-Vancouver Coast Salish Territories presents an excerpt of our interview with Sid Chow Tan.

This interview with Sid was conducted as part of NOII’s “Inheriting Resistance: A Community History Project” to document the untold stories of people in our communities who have been involved in and who have shaped a diversity of social justice struggles on unceded Coast Salish Territories over the past 20-40 years. We are committed to honouring the legacy of those who have struggled before us – and in many cases, who still continue to struggle alongside us – for social, economic, political, and environmental justice.

Sid Tan was born in China in 1949 and immigrated to Canada in 1950 with his grandmother, following the repeal of Chinese exclusion. Sid was raised on Main Street in Battleford Saskatchewan, is a graduate of the University of Calgary, and has resided for over thirty-five years in Saltwater City Vancouver. Growing up the youngest in the only Chinese family in town, his politics is informed by a life of anti-racism and social justice activism, occasionally resulting in civil disobedience and arrest. He has put in over two decades of work in redress for the Chinese head tax and exclusion laws and has also dedicated his time to community media and a myriad of human and environmental rights issues. His current community service includes: national chairperson of the Chinese Canadian National Council; the founding and current president of ACCESS Association of Chinese Canadians for Equality and Solidarity Society and Head Tax Families Society of Canada; a founding and current director of the Downtown Eastside Community Arts Network Society, Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council, W2 Social Enterprise Café Society, National Anti- Racism Council of Canada and Community Media Education Society; and a director of the Slim Evans Society and W2 Community Media Arts Society. Sid is a father to an adult son and daughter and is a grandfather. Favourite saying: “My art is activism. My trade is organising.”

For more information on the Inheriting Resistance Project:
https://noii-van.resist.ca/?page_id=4225

Contact us:
Email noii-van@resist.ca or call 778 848 0722
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